Botte: Tiger Woods confident he’ll win another major, but that’s doubtful following poor U.S. Open

SOUTHAMPTON – Tiger Woods, without hesitation, insists he “absolutely” can get back to playing winning golf again at the highest level.

He fully believes he still can add to his once-unlimited total of 14 major championships, and that he still, therefore, can put a tidy and happy ending on the fall-from-grace tale he has been chasing now for more than a decade.

Climbing his way back to the PGA mountaintop after such a precipitous descent won’t be so easy, or particularly immediate, however, for the game’s all-time earnings leader just because Woods says it or wishes it to be so.

That much was abundantly evident after Tiger’s disastrous failure to even make the cut – alongside Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and a slew of bold-faced names – in his ballyhooed return to Shinnecock Hills.

Especially when juxtaposed alongside one of his playing partners, the world’s current No.1 player and second-round leader Dustin Johnson, who is relentlessly sharp and efficient in all facets of his game presently like Woods famously used to be in these settings.

Tiger departed the U.S. Open and eastern Long Island – whether by private jet or via his 155-foot yacht docked nearby – after misfiring his way to post a 36-hole score of 10 strokes over par in his first appearance in the national championship since he also lasted only two rounds at Chambers Bay back in 2015.

The 42-year-old Woods had spoken optimistically and appreciatively earlier in the week about simply receiving the opportunity to compete again in golf’s major tournaments following a multitude of issues and injuries on and off the course over the past 10 years.

Tiger Woods is confident he'll win another major, but that's doubtful at this stage in his career. (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)

While stating the obvious that he didn’t think anyone would be “too happy and too excited about 10 over par,” Woods almost was incredulous when asked following Friday’s morning-round 72 exactly why he still foresees additional major championships in his future.

“Have you seen the way I've been swinging?” he playfully, yet forcefully, replied.

For sure, if nothing else, Tiger has every right to feel encouraged about how his back has responded to those four serious operations he underwent in recent years, enabling him to drive the ball successfully off the tee again, even comparing favorably distance-wise on a few occasions with the monster long balls consistently clubbed by Johnson, who enters the third round with a four-stroke lead.

But we’ve also seen these ongoing issues Woods has been unable to solve since returning to regular play earlier this year with his once deadly putter, difficulties that only continued to fester through his brief stay here.

Like Michael Jordan’s or Kobe Bryant’s assassin-like ability to want and make important shots late in the NBA’s biggest games, Woods’ clutch putter always had provided him a distinct advantage and served as the ultimate difference maker, particularly in the tour’s marquee events.

After so much time away from the top of the leaderboard, it’s fair to wonder if Woods can rediscover that so-called eye of the Tiger that made his game so daunting for everyone in his path.

There certainly weren’t any of those signature putts and memorable fist-pumping roars to be found throughout his latest comeback, and particularly this week, at least until Woods concluded Friday’s round with two late (and too late) birdies on his final two holes, No. 8 and No. 9.

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He simply never could fully overcome the self-inflicted damage to his scorecard on either day in losing half of his 10 strokes above breakeven to the par-four No.1 hole, going triple-bogey and double-bogey there over the two days.

“He definitely didn't have it, but really, he didn't play that poorly,” said his other playing partner, 2017 PGA champ Justin Thomas. “I don't think you need me to tell you he's not pleased, but I'm sure he's closer than the score shows.”

It's unlikely Tiger returns to his glory days of the early 2000s. (TIMOTHY CLARY / AFP/Getty Images)

Regardless, Woods only has been part of the Open field twice due to injuries over the past five years, and both times, he failed to survive until Saturday. By contrast, in the 65 majors he had competed in as a professional ahead of the 2014 PGA Championship, he missed the cut three times.

“Our whole careers are pretty much measured as if you can win four times a year,” Woods said. “One year, I did it three times.”

That was 2000, of course, when Tiger was at the height of his game and copped the three heavyweight events excluding The Masters, missing the single-year Grand Slam with a fifth-place finish at Augusta.

The turn of the century was quite some ago, however. And it was well before Woods’ personal and professional life unraveled soon after notching his third U.S. Open title at Torrey Pines in 2008 -- his 14th major championship, four shy of Jack Nicklaus’ all-time mark. The trouble began with that Thanksgiving night fender bender in 2009, the ensuing infidelity scandal that cost him his marriage and his impeccable image, a DUI arrest last year and all of the knee and back surgeries in-between.

None of that was easy for Woods, nor will it be to capture major title No. 15.

“I think they're all hard. They're not easy,” Tiger said. “I mean, I've won a few of them over the course of my career, and they're the hardest fields and usually the hardest setups. So they're meant to be testers, and, you know, you don't win major championships by kind of slapping all around the place and missing putts. You have to be on. You can’t fake it at a major championship.”

Tiger clearly wasn’t on, nor could he fake anything this week.

He may believe he’s “absolutely” going to win another major one day, but performances like this one cast plenty of doubt.